Remote fastener for lamps and the like

ABSTRACT

The fastener includes a head carrying a clamping jaw and an opening in which a rod is slidably received. Registering slots on the head and rod receive one end of a locking lever which is pivotally connected to the head. The opposite end of the lever carries a clamping jaw. A pin is carried by the rod and engages in a slot on the one lever end whereby reciprocating movement of the rod moves the jaw carried by the lever toward and away from the fixed clamping jaw. To retain the fastener clamped about a support, a locking sleeve is threaded on the rod. By threading the sleeve into butting engagement against the head the jaw carried by the lever is maintained in engagement against the support. The opposite end of the rod pivotally mounts a lighting fixture or the like.

United States Patent Auerbach REMOTE FASTENER FOR LAMPS AND THE LIKEInventor: Sherwin Leonard Auerbach, 473 Vallejo St., San Francisco,Calif.

Filed: Sept. 1, 1972 Appl. No.: 285,929

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1919 Morris et a1. 248/226 C X4/1930 Atticks et a1. 248/230 10/1946 Abernethy 3/1960 Bourgeois 248/228X Jan. 8, 1974 Primary ExaminerWilliam H. Schultz Att0meyRobert E.Leblanc et a1.

[5 7] ABSTRACT of a locking lever which is pivotally connected to thehead. The opposite end of the lever carries a clamping jaw. A pin iscarried by the rod and engages in a slot on the one lever end wherebyreciprocating movement of the rod moves the jaw carried by the levertoward and away from the fixed clamping jaw. To retain the fastenerclamped about a support, a locking sleeve is threaded on the rod. Bythreading the sleeve into butting engagement against the head the jaw'carried by the lever is maintained in engagement against the support.The opposite end of the rod pivotally mounts a lighting fixture or thelike.

12 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 1 REMOTE FASTENER FOR LAMPS AND THE LIKEThe present invention relates to a remote fastener for lamps and thelike and particularly relates to a fastener for securing lamps tosupports which are remote or inaccessible or otherwise not readilyavailable.

In television studios, theaters, stages and the like, lamps, spotlights,etc. are frequently moved about and disposed in various locations toachieve proper lighting effects. Usually, such lamps are hung fromoverhead supports in order to maintain the floor area clear of lightingand ancillary equipment and also to provide proper lighting. The lampsare very often mounted on pipe supports forming a part of a ceilingstructure overlying the stage. The maze of various pipe supports andwires associated with the lighting equipment has rendered connection ofthe lamps to the supports and their proper placement at best verydifficult. Many conventional fasteners for securing lamps to pipesupports require the use of one or more tools, for example, a wrench.The use of a fastener requiring a wrench, however, renders finalsecurement of the fastener and lamp to the support even more difficultparticularly in areas not readily accessible or in areas in whichmanipulation of the tool is inhibited by other supports, wiring and thelike. Further, quick connect to and disconnect from the pipe supports isall but virtually impossible with conventional lighting fasteners andthis renders the positioning and final securement of the lighting verydifficult and time consuming.

The present remote fastener minimizes and/or eliminates the foregoingand other problems associated with prior fasteners for lamps and thelike and provides a novel and improved remote fastener for lamps havingvarious advantages in construction and use in comparison with such priorfasteners. Particularly, the present invention provides a remotefastener for lamps which can be secured to pipes or other supportswithout the aid of ancillary tools and also to a wide variety of sizesof pipe or other supports and particularly those overhead pipe supportsconventionally utilized in theaters and the like. More particularly, thepresent invention provides a fastening head carrying a clamping jaw atone end and having an opening at its remote end for receiving one end ofan actuating rod. The head pivotably carries a locking lever which has aclamping jaw at one end. The rod and head have registering slots whichreceive the other end of the locking lever. The locking lever, in turn,has a slot which receives a pin extending through the slotted actuatingrod and through guide slots in the opposite sides of the clamping head.Thus, reciprocating movement of the actuating rod serves to pivot themovable clamping jaw carried by the lever toward and away from the fixedclamping jaw carried by the head, i.e., between a position wherein thejaws are clamped about a pipe support and a position wherein the jawsare open.

To retain the movable clamping jaw in the clamped position, the end ofthe actuating rod which extends from the clamping head is externallythreaded and threadedly receives a locking sleeve. By first threadingthe end of the locking sleeve to space it from the end of the head andthen displacing the rod and sleeve jointly toward the head, the jaws arelocated in the full open position of the clamp whereby the clamping headcan be received about a support, for example, a pipe support. Bydisplacing the actuating rod and the locking sleeve carried thereby awayfrom the head, the locking lever is pivoted such that its locking jawengages the pipe support whereby the latter is clamped between themovable and fixed clamping jaws of the lever and head respectively. Thesleeve is then threaded about the actuating rod such that its end buttsthe end of the clamp head. This prevents the locking jaw carried by thelever from pivoting away from the support.

The locking sleeve extends substantially the full length of theactuating rod. In this manner, the lamp carried at the end of theactuating rod can be fastened to a pipe support remote from the lampfrom a location adjacent the lamp since the end of the locking sleeve isreadily accessible adjacent the lamp. Consequently, the lamp can besecured to a remotely located pipe support since the fastener can bemanipulated from the lamp end thereof to engage the clamp head andlocking lever about the pipe support. Further, the clamping action iseffected simply by rotating the locking sleeve without the aid of toolsand, as noted previously, this can be accomplished at the lamp end ofthe fastener.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to providea novel and improved remote fastener for lamps and the like.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel andimproved remote fastener for lamps and the like wherein the fastener canbe readily and easily applied about supports which are remote from thefinal location of the lamp and/or not readily accessible.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a noveland improved remote fastener for lamps and the like which does notrequire one or more tools of any kind to secure the lamp to the supportand which securement does not interfere with the mounting of the lamp orthe electrical connections therefor.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel andimproved remote fastener for lamps and the like which is simple andinexpensive to construct.

These and further objects of the present invention will become moreapparent upon reference to the following specification, claims anddrawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a remote fastener for lamps and thelike with parts broken out in cross section for ease of illustration;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are fragmentary cross-sectional views thereof taken abouton lines 2-2 and 3-3 in FIG. 1 respectively; and

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6' are schematic views illustrating a manner of applyingthe remote fastener and lamp to a pipe support.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, thereis'illustrated a remote fastener for lamps and the like constructed inaccordance with the present invention and generally indicated 10.Fastener 10 includes a head 12 in the general shape of an inverted .lcomprised of an elongated body portion 13 and an outwardly projectingleg 14. Leg 14 carries an inclined clamping jaw 15 having a roughenedinner surface 16 for engagement with a support 18, a pipe support beingillustrated herein. A surface 20 on the inside of body portion 13 and ingeneral opposition to surface 16 also has a roughened surface forengaging about support 18. Head 12 also includes an opening or bore 22through body portion 13 which at the end thereof remote from jaw 14slidably receives one end of an actuating rod 24. Slots 26 and 27 areprovided in body portion 13 on diametrically opposed sides of bore 22and a slot 28 is provided in the end of actuating rod 24 in registrywith slots 26 and 27.

A locking lever 30 is pivotably mounted about a pin 32 secured to head12, pin 32 extending across slot 27. One end of locking lever 30comprises a jaw 34 having a roughened surface 36 for engaging about pipesupport 18. The end 37 of lever 30 remote from jaw 34 is received in theregistering slots 26 and 27 of the head 12 and in the slot 28 in theactuating rod 24. Lever end 37 has an elongated slot 38 which engagesabout a pin 40 carried by actuating rod 24 and which pin extends acrossslot 28 at a location intermediate its length. Opposite ends of pin 40engage in diametrically opposed guide slots 42 on opposite sides of head12. It will be appreciated that, with the foregoing construction,reciprocating movement of rod 24 toward and away from head 12 pivotslocking lever 30 about pin 32 in opposite directions. That is, and asmore particularly described hereinafter, locking lever 30 is pivotedinto the full line locking position illustrated in FIG. 1 in response todisplacement of rod 24 away from head 12 and an open positionillustrated by the dashed lines in FIG. 1 in response to displacement ofrod 24 toward head 12.

Actuating rod 24 extends from head 12 and terminates at its remote endin a tapped opening 44. A generally U-shaped bracket 46 pivotably mountsa lamp 48 (FIG. 6) between its spaced ends and is secured to the end ofrod 24 by a bolt 50 which extends through bracket 46 and into the tappedopening 44. The bracket is, of course, pivotable about the axis of rod24 while the lamp per se is pivotable about an axis normal theretowhereby the lamp can be oriented universally as desired.

To releasably lock the locking lever 30 in a position clamping thefastener about pipe support 18, an internally threaded locking sleeve 52is provided about the portion of actuating rod 24 which extends fromhead 12. The locking sleeve 52 is slightly shorter in length than theportion of rod 24 which extends from head 12 for reasons that willbecome apparent, the sleeve extending to a location adjacent lampbracket 46. A portion of the actuating rod 24 is externally threaded at54 and it will be appreciated that rotation of locking sleeve 52 aboutrod 24 displaces sleeve 52 along rod 24 toward or away from head 12.

To utilize the fastener hereof, locking sleeve 52 is threaded about rod24 in a direction tending to displace it away from head 12. The sleeve52 and actuating rod 24 are then jointly displaced toward head 12. Itwill be appreciated that upwardmovement of rod 24 toward head 12 asillustrated in FIG. 1 carries pin 40 therewith and hence pivots lockinglever'30 about pin 32 to locate jaw 34 in a position fully spaced fromjaw 14 as illustrated in FIG. 4. It will be noted that, in most studios,stages and the like, lamp 48 will be supported from an overhead supportand that by threading sleeve 52 about rod 24 away from head 12, thefastener can be held by sleeve 52 or rod 24 at the end. of the fasteneradjacent lamp 48 with the head 12 sliding along rod 24 by its own weightto open the locking jaws. This is particularly significant in thoselocations wherein the support is inaccessible. Once the invertedJ-shaped head 12 is hooked over a support 18 as illustrated in FIG. 4,rod

24 is displaced in a direction away from head 12 by simply pulling it orpulling locking sleeve 52. Displacement of rod 24 away from head 12 andin a downward direction as illustrated in FIG. 1, pivots locking lever30 into the position illustrated in FIG. 5 with surfaces 16,

20 and 36 in engagement about support 18.

While the weight of the lamp, rod and sleeve would be sufficient to holdthe fastener clamped about support 18, i.e., would be sufficient tomaintain locking lever 30 in the full line position as illustrated inFIG. 1, it is preferable to lock the fastener to the support. To thisend, locking sleeve 52 is threaded about rod 24 in a direction such thatit butts the margin 56 about opening 22 of head 12. Note that thisthreading action may be accomplished at a location adjacent the lamp endof the fastener. Thus, when sleeve 52 is threaded about rod 24 intobutting engagement with head 12, any tendency of the locking lever 30 topivot in a direction to unlock the support from the fastener isprevented.

Thus, it will be appreciated that the objects of the present inventionare fully accomplished by the foregoing described fastener in that itcan be readily and easily applied to a support from a location remotefrom the support and without the aid of tools. Furthermore, it will benoted that the fastener is formed of readily available materials, easilyand inexpensively machined to their final configuration, and readily andeasily assembled.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrativeand not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States LettersPatent is:

1. Apparatus for releasably coupling a'fixture to a support comprising:

a head including a body carrying a clamping jaw and having an opening,

a rod having an end portion slidably received in said 'opening,

a lever pivotally carried by said'head and carrying a clamping jaw atone end thereof in opposition to said first mentioned jaw,

means for pivotally connecting said lever and said rod end portion onthe side of the pivotal axis of said lever opposite its jaw wherebymovement of said rod away from said head pivots the jaw carried by saidlever toward said first mentioned jaw for clamping the support betweensaid jaws, means cooperable between said rod and said head for lockingthe jaw carried by said lever against pivotal movement in a directionaway from said first mentioned jaw,

and means carried by one of said rod and said locking means for securinga fixture thereto.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said locking means includesan internally threaded sleeve, at least a portion of said rod beingexternally threaded, said sleeve being threadedly received about saidrod and threadable thereon into a position butting said head to clampsaid jaws about the support.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said securing means iscarried by said rod.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said body is elongated andhas a slot for receiving the opposite end of said lever, said rod endportion having a slot in registry with the first mentioned slot in saidbody for receiving said opposite lever end, said opposite lever endhaving a slot, guides carried by said body and a pin engaging in theguides and through the slot in said opposite lever end for pivoting saidlever in response to reciprocating movement of the rod relative to saidhead.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said guides include a pair ofslots opening through the side of said body for receiving the oppositeends of said pin.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said body is elongated andsaid jaw includes portions forming an acute angle one with the otherwith each portion having a surface for engaging the support, the jawcarried by said lever having a surface for engaging said support andgenerally opposite said first mentioned surface portions whereby theapparatus is adapted to be clamped to the support by a three-pointcontact.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said surfaces are roughenedfor gripping the support.

8. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the surface carried by saidlever lies generally normal to a line bisecting the acute angle betweensaid first mentioned surface portions.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said locking means includes amember movable lengthwise along said rod into and out of engagement withmarginal portions of said body about said opening, said securing meansbeing carried by said rod.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said locking means includesan internally threaded sleeve at least a portion of said rod beingexternally threaded, said sleeve being threadedly received about saidrod with an end of said sleeve being adapted for butting engagement withsaid head to clamp said jaws about the support, said body beingelongated and having a slot for receiving the opposite end of saidlever, said body also including a pair of guide slots opening throughthe opposite sides thereof, said rod end portion also having a slot inregistry with the first mentioned slot in said body for receiving saidopposite lever end, said opposite lever end having a slot, 21 pincarried by said rod and engaging in the pair of guide slots in said bodyand through the slot in said lever end for pivoting said lever inresponse to reciprocating movement of the rod relative to said head.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said body is elongated andsaid jaw includes portions form' ing an acute angle one with the otherwith each portion having a surface for engaging the support, the jawcarried by said lever having a surface for engaging said support andgenerally opposite both of said first mentioned surface portions wherebythe apparatus is adapted to be clamped to the support by a three-pointcontact.

12. Apparatus according to claim 1, including a lamp carried by saidrod, and means for pivotally connecting said lamp and said rod.

1. Apparatus for releasably coupling a fixture to a support comprising:a head including a body carrying a clamping jaw and having an opening, arod having an end portion slidably received in said opening, a leverpivotally carried by said head and carrying a clamping jaw at one endthereof in opposition to said first mentioned jaw, means for pivotallyconnecting said lever and said rod end portion on the side of thepivotal axis of said lever opposite its jaw whereby movement of said rodaway from said head pivots the jaw carried by said lever toward saidfirst mentioned jaw for clamping the support between said jaws, meanscooperable between said rod and said head for locking the jaw carried bysaid lever against pivotal movement in a direction away from said firstmentioned jaw, and means carried by one of said rod and said lockingmeans for securing a fixture thereto.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1,wherein said locking means includes an internally threaded sleeve, atleast a portion of said rod being externally threaded, said sleeve beingthreadedly received about said rod and threadable thereon into aposition butting said head to clamp said jaws about the support. 3.Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said securing means is carriedby said rod.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said body iselongated and has a slot for receiving the opposite end of said lever,said rod end portion having a slot in registry with the first mentionedslot in said body for receiving said opposite lever end, said oppositelever end having a slot, guides carried by said body and a pin engagingin the guides and through the slot in said opposite lever end forpivoting said lever in response to reciprocating movement of the rodrelative to said head.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein saidguides include a pair of slots opening through the side of said body forreceiving the opposite ends of said pin.
 6. Apparatus according to claim1, wherein said body is elongated and said jaw includes portions formingan acute angle one with the other with each portion having a surface forengaging the support, the jaw carried by said lever having a surface forengaging said support and generally opposite said first mentionedsurface portionS whereby the apparatus is adapted to be clamped to thesupport by a three-point contact.
 7. Apparatus according to claim 6,wherein said surfaces are roughened for gripping the support. 8.Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the surface carried by saidlever lies generally normal to a line bisecting the acute angle betweensaid first mentioned surface portions.
 9. Apparatus according to claim1, wherein said locking means includes a member movable lengthwise alongsaid rod into and out of engagement with marginal portions of said bodyabout said opening, said securing means being carried by said rod. 10.Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said locking means includes aninternally threaded sleeve, at least a portion of said rod beingexternally threaded, said sleeve being threadedly received about saidrod with an end of said sleeve being adapted for butting engagement withsaid head to clamp said jaws about the support, said body beingelongated and having a slot for receiving the opposite end of saidlever, said body also including a pair of guide slots opening throughthe opposite sides thereof, said rod end portion also having a slot inregistry with the first mentioned slot in said body for receiving saidopposite lever end, said opposite lever end having a slot, a pin carriedby said rod and engaging in the pair of guide slots in said body andthrough the slot in said lever end for pivoting said lever in responseto reciprocating movement of the rod relative to said head. 11.Apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said body is elongated and saidjaw includes portions forming an acute angle one with the other witheach portion having a surface for engaging the support, the jaw carriedby said lever having a surface for engaging said support and generallyopposite both of said first mentioned surface portions whereby theapparatus is adapted to be clamped to the support by a three-pointcontact.
 12. Apparatus according to claim 1, including a lamp carried bysaid rod, and means for pivotally connecting said lamp and said rod.